Hi guys, I have an incredibly long & boring story which I won't inflict on you don't worry! Basically my car isn't running right and hasn't been for ages. I seem to be always stuck in a catch 22 between mapping & mechanical things. I change something on the car (for example the turbo & injectors) and then I drive off boost until it's mapped. It's only then when I have the car mapped that any problems show up y'know? My most recent one now is after my last map I have absolutely biblical turbo lag. It was only verryyyy sligghhttllyy noticeable on the day of the mapping, but has got increasingly worse and now it's really bad. So I have a list of things people are saying it might be - exhaust leak somewhere, cracked turbine housing, damaged CAT, boost leak, etc. I just don't know what to do next. This is possibly a stupid question, but is there anyone that does Alcatek mapping and can mechanically check the car at the same time? I think that's the only way I stand a chance of ever getting the car running right. Trying to sort the mechanical stuff and then going and getting it mapped (4 hour drive away) and then finding something else isn't right, or the first problem isn't even solved, is just doing my head in. I am losing the will to live! I'm guessing this is what most people have to do though? I just don't know. I just feel like I'm never gonna get to the bottom of it. I honestly don't know whether to give up and get rid of the car (reallllllyy don't want to!) or whether it's worth trying to stick with it and solve it.

Everyone keeps saying to me "surely someone can just fix it?!" and then comes the famous Jeremey Clarkson quote "I mean how hard can it be?!". So yeah, I don't know. How hard can it be?......

 

Try speaking to Simon jgm, before I had my car mapped with alcatek I went to him and got car fully checked over and to see if I had any issues before mapping and bigger turbo, he's a top fella and always so helpful, if it's too far for you just google Subaru specialists around your area and find reviews and pop in and see one and explain your issues and hopefully things will get sorted, don't give up on the scooby they are great cars I know at times I felt the same but with hard work in my wagon I'm pushing 332bhp with 327ftlb torque and I'm very happy but wasn't easy, so chin up and go for it

 

Try garages with in house mappers potentially, engine tuner, scooby clinic, roger Clark, zen to name but a few.....

 

Mark at TDR in Warwick can map, build engines, does all servicing etc, everything you could need. (As demonstrated on the Pro R Time Attack Subaru)

http://tdracing.co.uk/

 

Forget using roger clark or engine tuner, good lads but their prices are a complete pisstake, i dont know about scoobyclinic or zen they may be better priced, id personally go api tbh, imo theyre the best company ive ever dealt with and know just about everything scooby

 

Cheers for all your replies guys I've only ever dealt with API before out of all the companies mentioned, and they were very very good indeed! Will give them a shout and see what they say

 

I resent that comment.
At just £50 an hour our labour rate is far from expensive and we certainly don't earn the kind of the money associated with building a £500,000 demo car.
The fact that we have a proper workshop, dyno with in house mapper and very experienced engineering and technical staff doesn't mean we charge the earth to fix simple faults

 

As above, take it to a place where they do mapping and mechanical work, there is plenty of them about, sound alot more when they add labour time on, but by the sound of it, that extra couple of hundred would have saved you alot of frustration and hassle!

 

What he said^^

In fact taking it to one of the better garages can quite often save you money as they will find out what's wrong quicker due to having more experience.

 

The OP's story is far from unusual. In fact I'd say 95% of the cars we see need some kind of "mechanical intervention" before the final mapping takes place. The alternative is a compromise, and we see the effect of that all the time.
Just a few common issues discovered when "mapping";

Water leaks
Oil leaks
Fuel leaks
Exhaust leaks
Boost leaks
Poor quality or incorrectly fitted boost control hoses
Loose clips
Incorrect actuator pre load
Boost controllers wired wrong or faulty
Boost controllers plumbed in wrong
Faulty MAPs and MAFs
Faulty throttle pots
Incorrect plug gaps
Duff coil packs
Duff Lambdas
Faulty VVT solenoids
Faulty tumble valves
And a whole host of things people do that you wouldn't believe!

Fix that lot by the side of the road?

 

I dont mean any offence in my post im going purely by experience, i got quoted £800 by yourselves to build just a short block for me that was already stripped and inspected by myself and was coming supplied with a complete build kit brand new in boxes, so it was a case of reboring the block, gapping the rings and putting it together. Imo that is a way overpriced quote for the job.

I have met you and your old man and know youre descent, knowledgeable lads, i just think the quote was over the top.

 

Well, that's just ignorance for you.
Firstly, we don't take it as gospel that anything coming into the building is ok just because somebody else looked at it.
Secondly, spending two days on a short block build is nothing unusual. We spend a half day cleaning the block for a start. All gallery plugs are removed and the block goes through several internal and external cleaning processes. When we bore and hone we use stress plates. We balance the assemblies. We trial assemble for correct deck height, surface the block as appropriate then strip and clean again before final build.

The blocks are painted and properly presented as below;




You can choose who you like, and whatever standard you choose. I'm sure your cheaper alternative was fine for you.
I don't think offering excellent engineering and a superbly finished product for sensible money is a "pisstake", and I feel an apology is in order for an unnecessarily acid comment.

PS.. I'm the "old man".

 

That's a cracking job, it's amazing how much of a difference new/recoated bolts make!

 

That is an absolutely stunning bit of work, fair play!